Star Trek (2009) Fanfic
by MisRedLotus
Summary: I DO NOT OWN and of the Star Trek Characters or Anything associated with it. This is the movie, with Aria T Kirk. Changed it to a perspective of a woman (Like I did with the Hobbit.) Rated M for some sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: Just for the record, no I don't know much about Star Trek, I had to look up a few things, yes I've changed the perspective to a woman. I'll be continuing this with Star Trek Into Darkness. Please Enjoy! _**

A little girl in an antique car zooms out onto a long desert highway, she looks scared, concerned and on the verge of tears. She zooms out pressing on the pedal making the car go faster and faster, the car begins to ring and she hits the button on the screen to answer, "Hey are you outta your mind? That cars an antique, do you think you can get away with this just because your mother is off planet? You get your ass back home now; you live in my house girlie. You live in my house and that's MY car, you get on scratch on that car and I'm gonna whip your ass—"

The little girl hangs up the phone and turns on the music, it's loud and booms through the car as she drives. She looks up and sees the latches to let the hood down, but as she releases the second latch the hood flies off the car. She looks behind for a moment, before smiling and yelling, "Yeah!"

She see's someone she knows and honks the horn as she drives by, "Hey Johnny!" smiling she still looks behind honking the horn at him.

Her smiling stops when she hears the sound of a cop coming up fast behind her. She panics as the cop catches up with her and hovers beside her.

"Citizen, pull over."

She presses on the petal and veers off onto a dirty road, dust starts to fly in her face making it hard for her to see, driving forward she drives through a gate. Gasping the little girl still looks forward, trying to keep her eye on the road. She laughs and hits the gas petal harder as she sees the cliff coming she hits the brakes and pulls on the parking brake, she yells and jumps out of the car as it swerves and falls off the cliff. She yells as she slides along the ground and to the edge of the cliff, "Ah!" she beings to pull herself up and drags herself along the sandy ground till she's flat on land.

The little girl relaxes for a moment before she sees the foot of the cop, she looks up and stands up. She turns to look down at the bottom of the cliff and then back at him.

"Is there a problem officer?" she says with a pained expression on her face.

"Citizen what is your name?"

She says loudly and proudly, "My name is Aria Tiberius Kirk."

_-Years Later- _

Aria walks over to the bar after hearing a woman order a lot of drinks, "That's a lot of drinks for one woman." She sounds drunk.

The woman looks over at her and then back at the bartender, "And a shot of Jack's straight up."

"Make that two, her shots on me."

"Her shots are on hers, thanks but no thanks."

She laughs, "Don't you at least wanna know my name before turning down a good offer?"

"I think I'm fine without it."

"You are fine without it." She pauses for a moment looking at her, "It's Aria, Aria Kirk." The noise of the bar lingers between them, "If you don't tell me your name I'm going to have to make one up."

"Do you have a tendency of hitting on women?"

"Only when I'm drunk. I prefer men."

She rolls her eyes, "It's Uhura." She doesn't look too pleased saying her name.

"Ooooh Uhura. No way, that was the name I was gonna make up for ya." Again the noise of the bar lingers between them, "Uhura what?"

"Just Uhura."

"They don't have last names in your world?" her voice is sarcastic.

"Uhura is my last name."

"So they don't have—first names in your world." Aria gets her drink handed to her and walks over to Uhura, "Look I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of friends."

"I can see why."

"Hey now—don't need to hurt my feelings." She takes a sip of her drink, "So you're a cadet, you're studying, what's your focus?"

"Xenolinguistics, you have no idea what that means." Uhura looks at her for a moment, before turning back to the bar, "You're short."

Aria grumbles for a moment before answering her, "The study of Alien languages, morphology, phonology, syntax. Things that have a talented tongue."

Uhura turns to look at her and smiles, "I'm impressed, I thought you were just a dumb hick."

"Hey this brood isn't bothering you is she?"

Aria turns around to see a big guy, standing behind her.

"Oh beyond belief, but it's nothing I can't handle." Uhura turns to grab her drink and gulps it down.

"Oh, I'm sure you could handle me." Aria smiles and laughs.

"Hey, you better mind your manners."

She looks at the big guy, and places her hand on his shoulder, "Oh relax cupcake, it was just a joke." She goes to turn away when the guy grabs her by the shoulder and makes her face him.

"Hey Farm girl, maybe you can't count. There are four of us and one of you."

Her face is a few inches from his, "So get two more guys and then it'll be an even fight." She smirks and lightly smacks the side of the guys face. She goes to turn away when the guy flips her around and punches her right in the face, she groans and cringes feeling the pain shoot through her skull.

"I suppose me being a woman won't change your mind then…" she mutters to herself.

"Guys stop it." Uhura's voice is firm and angry.

The guy goes to punch her again, "Stop it!" Uhura says and Aria kicks the guy causing him to fly backwards and lands on a table breaking it. Another guy comes at her taking a crack at her stomach and hitting her, before she hits him right back sending him into a table with a group of people and they groan as their drinks spill everywhere.

The guy gets up and hoofs her in the stomach and then makes a crack at her face and succeeds. She groans loudly and tumbles over herself, her lip bleeding, her face is aching. Her hands accidently land on Uhura's breasts, she freaks out and shoves Aria away. Another guy punches her face again and she cries out. One of the other men come up behind her and grab her, hitting her in the stomach, she dodges the second punch as it hits the guy holding her. After he lets go she grabs a glass bottle and smashes it again the side of one of the guy's head. He falls on the ground and she smiles for a moment feeling satisfied, when another guy grabs onto her and punches her in the face again she falls on the ground, feeling pain wrack her body, she groans just lying there.

"Stop this" Uhura tries to yell over the noise.

A guy grabs onto Aria and hauls her up, she groans feeling her body move as her back hits against a table, she groans and cries out feeling her face being punched. She could feel something warm running down her lips.

"Guys she's had enough!" Uhura yells and a whistle sounds through the whole bar causing everyone to go quiet. The guy immediately stops punching her and releases her, she groans as she hits the table, her body bending slightly as she sees Captain Pike standing there.

"Outside, all of you. Now." His voice is firm and his expression is not happy. Everyone in red suits begin to leave the bar.

"Aw, I just bought a drink." A few of them complain as they leave. Aria looks up at Pike.

"You all right there?"

"You can whistle really loud, you know that?" He smiles down at her and then tilts his head looking at her.

"Aw my nose…" she stays there on the table.

Later she's sitting at the table with Pike, taking a sip of her drink with tissues shoved up both her nostrils.

"You know I couldn't believe it when the bartender told me who you are."

She eyes her drink, "And who am I, Captain Pike?" she takes a sip.

"Your father's daughter." She looks at him and turns to the bartender, "Hey can I get another one." She holds her glass up and shakes it before placing it back down onto the table.

"For my dissertation, I was assigned the USS Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad, he didn't believe in no-win scenarios."

She snorts and pulls out the bloody tissues from her nose, "He sure learned his lesson." She wipes her nose and places the tissues down.

"Well, it depends on how you define winning. You're here aren't you?"

"Thanks." She says sarcastically and grabs the bottle to pour another drink into her glass.

"You know, that instinct to leap without looking, that was his nature too. And in my opinion, it's something Starfleet's lost."

She scoffs and smiles, "Why are you talking to me, man?"

"Cause I looked up your file while you were drooling on the floor." She looks up at Pike, feeling a little embarrassed, "Your aptitude tests are off the charts. So what is it? You like being the only genius-level repeat-offender in the Midwest?"

"Maybe I love it." The booze was hitting her, but numbing the pain in her face and her nose.

"So your dad dies. You can settle for a less-than-ordinary life. Or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special?" She goes quiet and feeling kind of dazed, _me? Something special… maybe.. maybe—_

"Enlist in Starfleet."

"Enlist." She laughs for a moment and smiles, "You guys must be way down on your recruiting quota for the month."

"If you're half of what your father was, Aria, Starfleet could use you." She looks at him, his face serious, "You can be an officer in four years. You can have your own ship in eight. You understand what the federation is, don't you? It's important. It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada—"

"Are we done?" She sounds annoyed and looks off to the side, her expression slightly upset.

"I'm done."

She looks back at Pike and nods her head; he stands up as she takes a huge sip of her drink, "Riverside Shipyard. Shuttle for new recruit's leaves tomorrow, 0800." Pike looks down at her as she lifts her glass up, looking down at the table, and the dried blood on her face becoming itchy.

"Now, your father was a captain of a starship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives, including you mother's. And yours." Her eyes look up at him and then back down, "I dare you to do better." She watches as Pike leaves the bar, she sits there at the table looking down at her drink. His words sinking deep into her, she leans forward and picks up the small salt shaker in the shape of a ship and stares at it turning it over and letting the salt fall onto the table.

_It's my chance, my chance to do something with myself._

The next morning, she gets on her bike and drives down a barren dirt road. The sky was barely lit when she left, the feel of the cool breeze brushes against her face as she travels for a while before reaching the Riverside Shipyard. She stops and looks at what looks like a ship in construction in front of her, she stares looking at it, thinking and wondering what would happen if she made the choice to go.

She drives forward and by the time she reaches inside the shipyard the sun is shining and lighting up the day she drives till she reaches a shuttle she gets off her bike, "Nice ride, girl." Aria gets off her bike, turns it off and pulls out the keys throwing it to the guy, "It's yours." She walks towards Pike, "Four years?" she goes past him to go into the shuttle, "I'll do it in three." She gets on the shuttle and smiles as she walks in seeing so many people. She continues forward and within a few seconds she hits her head against a metal pole labelled, 'Low Clearance.' She groans for a moment and ducks her head, she sees cupcake boy and salutes her hand as she walks by looking for a seat. "At ease gentlemen."

Aria rounds the corner finally finding a seat and sits down, she looks around the belt and smiles as she finds her belt and locks herself in. She looks over and smiles seeing Uhura, though she doesn't look too impressed.

"Never did get that first name." Uhura cracks a smile, probably out of annoyance.

"You need a doctor." Aria hears a woman say.

She turns her head hearing the commotion, "I told you people, I don't need a doctor, damn it, I am a doctor!"

"You need to get back to your seat." Aria sees a man, who looks scruffy in a long brown leather coat. _He's cute. _

"I had one in the bathroom with no windows."

The woman pushes the man back to his seat, "You need to get back to your seat now."

"I suffer from aviaphobia. It means fear of dying in something that flies."

The woman was becoming increasingly angry, "Sir, for your own safety, sit down, or else I'll make you sit down!"

The guy looks at her for a moment and nods his head, "Fine." He sits down right beside Aria.

"Thank you." He begins to put on his seatbelt.

_"This is Captain Pike. We've been cleared for takeoff." _

She looks over at the guy beside her, he looks very angry, "I may throw up on you."

She gives him a look, "I think these things are pretty safe."

"Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds." She looks at him, "A solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats." She rolls her eyes and turns her head away from him, "And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles." She could not believe this guy, regardless of being a doctor he was completely paranoid. "See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence."

She finally had enough of this guy, "Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space."

"Yeah, well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones." He takes a swig of his tiny canteen. She looks at him and then his canteen, he looks at her and hands it over, "Aria Kirk." She takes a swig.

"McCoy. Leonard McCoy."

"You're pretty cute."

He rolls his eyes at her, "Funny, that's what my wife said when she saw the look on my face after she took whole the planet in the divorce."

"You know, you could learn to take a compliment." She smiles and laughs awkwardly as she hands the canteen back over to him. She sits beside him as they feel the shuttle move and descent into space.


	2. Chapter 2

_3 Years Later…_

Aria walks out of a building with McCoy, a smile plastered on her face, "Why are you so happy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, I don't suppose you do." They walk down the stairs as a group of men walk by.

"Hello gentlemen." She looks as they walk by then looks where she's walking again, "I'm taking the test again."

"You gotta be kidding." McCoy doesn't sound too happy as he looks at her.

"Yeah, tomorrow morning and I want you there."

"You know I've got better things to do than watch you embarrass yourself for a third time. I'm a doctor, Ari. I'm busy."

She turns to face McCoy and walks up to him, "Bones, it doesn't bother you that no one's ever passed the test?"

"Ari, it's the Kobayashi Maru. No one passes the test. And no one goes back for seconds, let alone thirds."

She pats his shoulder, "I gotta study. Unless you wanna spend some time with me, handsome." She winks playfully.

"Oh, I'd love too, except I'm going to be too busy looking at the inside of my eyelids."

"Ha! Oh you're funny Bones." She kisses his cheek. "If you need me, I'll be studying." She smiles to herself as she walks away, knowing he looks pissed off as usual.

"Study my ass." He grumbles and walks the other way.

Aria had found herself in a weird situation, though she never really liked girls, she had always thought that it would be interesting to try and Gaila seemed to be that girl.

She crawls up Gaila's body, kissing and licking at she goes, "Ari. I think I love you."

For a moment, she didn't know what to say, and at that point she knew that girls were not for her.

"That…is so weird."

"Lights."

_Lights on_

She moves off Gaila and sits on the bed, "Did you just say, 'That is so weird'?"

"Yeah, I did, but…"

"You don't love me too?"

Aria shakes her head and smiles for a moment, "Look Gaila, you're a nice girl and everything, but this was for… experimental reasons. And I thank you for making me see the errors of my ways and that I cannot for the life of me be with a woman. Let alone a green one…" she bites her bottom lip.

"What did you say?" Gaila doesn't sound too happy.

"Besides, there's someone I'm starting to like anyways…"

Gaila looks as if she's about to hurt her when the door swooshes open, "Oh my god, my roommate!" she looks panicked.

"But I thought you said she was gone for the night."

"Obviously she's not. Quick, get under the bed." She begins pushing Aria off the bed.

"Under…" Aria groans.

"Look, just get under the bed."

Aria moves off the bed, "Come on!"

"She can't see you here."

"Why not?"

"Because, I promised her I'd stop bringing anyone back to the room, mostly guys."

"Really? How many have you—" her expression is questioning.

She motions her hands down, "Just get down, down!" Mara crawls underneath the bed and watches as Uhura walks into the room. She watches from underneath and listen as the two of them talk. "Strangest thing, I was in the long range sensor lab."

"Yeah, yeah, I thought all night."

"I was tracking solar systems and I picked up an emergency transmission."

"Really?" Gaila keeps her face neutral and Aria continues to watch and listen.

"Yeah," Uhura slips off her shirt, "From a kling-on prison planet." Aria looks down at her breasts, _well mine are bigger. _

"No." her voice is bland.

"Yeah." She unzips her skirt and slips it off, Aria stops looking and just lays under Gaila's bed.

"A kling-on armada was destroyed, 47 ships."

"So you're not going back to the lab tonight?"

"Gaila who is he?"

"Who's who?"

"The mouth breather hiding under your bed."

Aria appears from underneath the bed, "You can hear me breathing?"

"You." Uhura's voice sounds annoyed and not the least bit surprised.

"Big day tomorrow." Aria picks up her clothes quickly and heads towards their door.

"You're gonna fail. Get out."

"Bye Gaila!"

Uhura hurries her out the door, "If I pass, will you tell me your first name?"

"No! Good night."

Aria hurries out the door and turns to face Uhura, "I think the fact that you picked up a transmission is very interesting." The door closes on her and Aria shakes her head before slipping on her clothes in the hall quickly and heading back towards her room.

Aria sits down in the chair, once again for the test. _I'm so ready… they have NO idea! _

Uhura turns around in her seat to face Aria, "We are receiving a distress signal from the USS Kobayashi Maru. The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet command has ordered us to rescue them."

Aria turns around in her chair to face the front, "Starfleet command has ordered us to rescue them…Captain."

McCoy rolls his eyes, "Two Klingon vessels have entered the Neutral Zone and are locking weapons on us."

"That's okay." Aria smiles feeling confident.

"That's okay?" McCoy turns to look at her.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." A big smile is plastered on her face.

"Three more Klingon warbirds decloaking and targeting our ship." McCoy turns around in his seat to look at her, "I don't suppose this is a problem either."

"They're firing Captain." Someone says.

"Alert Medical Bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship."

"And how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons, Captain?"

Aria turns around in her chair and whispers harshly, "Alert Medical." She smiles at Uhura.

An alarm sounds through the room, "Our ship is being hit. Shields at 60%." McCoy says.

"I understand."

"Well, should we, I don't know, fire back?" He turns to look at Aria.

"No." Aria bites into an apple.

"Of course not." The alarm goes off and as does the power before coming back on. Everyone in the testing room seems confused about what just happened.

"Hm, Arm photons. Prepare to fire on the Klingon warbirds."

"Yes sir."

"Ari, their shields are still up." McCoy looks at her.

"Are they?"

He looks back at his screen as she takes another bite of her apple. "No. they're not."

"Fire on all enemy ships. One photon each should do. Let's not waste ammunition."

"Target locked and acquired on all warbirds. Firing." The sound of guns going off sound through the room, and the ships on the screen get destroyed. "All ships destroyed, Captain."

"Begin rescue of the stranded crew." She shoots out of her chair, "So! We've managed to eliminate all enemy ships, no one on board was injured, and the successful rescue of the Kobayashi Maru crew is underway." She pats McCoy's shoulder as she walks by and takes another bite of her apple. She looks up at the men standing in the room above.

She follows McCoy around for a while after the test, "Oh come on, Bones, what's eating at ya!"

"The fact that you passed the Kobayashi Maru Test. No one passes the test."

"And yet I did." She walks past him and he grabs onto her arm and pulls her into a secluded room.

"I know you're lying Ari."

"Do you?" She smiles at him and pulls him hard against her, he looks down at her.

"Ari." his gaze is firm.

She finally cracks, "Okay, so I may have..fiddled with the programming... Just a little." she winces at her answer, McCoy looks in shock.

"You cheated!? Damn it Ari, do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in?'

"And who is gonna find out? You're not gonna rat on me are you?"

"Well no, I should, but I won't. That doesn't mean someone isn't going to find out though."

She looks up at him and touches his face; her thumbs caress his cheeks before she pulls him down and kisses him softly on the lips.

"You're growing on me Bones..." she smiles and rests her forehead against his.

"Yeah, well, you're still a pain in my ass." he sounds pissed off.

Aria smiles, "Yeah I'll take that as a compliment." she kisses him again, his hands sliding along her sides. He pulls away, Aria blushes.

"You be careful, Ari."

"Come on, Bones. Who's gonna find out?"

_Later… _

Aria sits in the auditorium with the whole Starfleet and it's commanding officers, "This session has been called to resolve a troubling matter. Aria T. Kirk, step forward." she sits there frightened for a moment before getting out of her seat and walking down towards the front.

"Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting that you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to Regulation 17.43 of the Starfleet code. Is there anything you care to say before we begin, miss?"

She stands straight and looks at the head of the council, "Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." She looks behind and sees a man with short black hair and pointy ears stand up in the crowd.

_A Vulcan. _

"Step forward, please." He walks down from the crowd. "This is commander Spock. He is one of our most distinguished graduates. He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru exam for the last four years." She turns and looks at him, _God damn it…_

"Commander?"

"Cadet Kirk, you somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code, thereby changing the conditions of the test."

She stands there not swayed by his words, "Your point being?"

"In academic vernacular, you cheated." The council says and the crowd murmurs are heard throughout the room.

"Let me ask you something I think we all know the answer to. The test itself is a cheat, isn't it? I mean, you programmed it to be unwinnable."

"You argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario." Spock's voice is very calm as he speaks.

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios."

"Then not only did you violate the rules, you also failed to understand the principal lesson."

"Please enlighten me." She looks over at Spock.

"You of all people should know, Cadet Kirk, a captain cannot cheat death."

She looks at Spock for a moment, and then down at her podium, his words cutting her surface, but she remains calm. "I of all people?"

"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, assumed command of his vessel before being killed in action, did he not?"

Now he was starting to piss her off, "I don't think you like the fact that I beat your test." She turns to look at him.

"Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test."

"Enlighten me again."

"The purpose is to experience fear, fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain."

Aria looks down at the podium, his words definitely sunk into her. A man walks over to the head of the council, "Excuse me sir." He hands over data PADD the man looks down at it and his face looks concerned. "We've received a distress call from Vulcan. With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hangar One immediately. Dismissed." Everyone stood up and started to walk out of the room, Aria stands there looking over at Spock. McCoy walks down and stands beside her, "Who was that pointy-eared bastard?"

"I don't know, but I like him." She looks at McCoy with an unbelievable look on her face.

She walks with McCoy down to Hangar One and waits with him, as an officer calls out the cadet's name to the assigned ships, she stands there as everyone disperses, "He didn't call my name…" she sounds offended and walks over to the guy, "Commander? Sir, you didn't call my name. Kirk, Aria T."

"Kirk, you're on academic suspension. That means you're grounded until the Academy Board rules." She stands there and watches the commander walk away.

"Ari, the Board will rule in your favor. Most likely." She looks down at the ground and smiles slightly, "Look, Ari, I gotta go."

"Yeah. Yeah, you go. Be safe." She goes to shake his hand but gives him a quick hug instead. She pulls away and watches him walk away, as she stands there wondering what to do with her day.

"Excuse me." A cadet holding something walks by her.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." She moves out of the guy's way. She stands there for a few moments before McCoy walks back over to her, "Come with me." He grabs onto her arm and pulls her away.

"Bones, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

She follows McCoy into a closed off room.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"I'm doing you a favour, I couldn't just leave you there, looking all pathetic. Take a seat." she sits down.

"I'm going to give you a vaccine against viral infection from the Melavarn mud fleas." He walks over and presses the injection against her neck, "Ow!" she cringes and touches her neck, "What for?" she looks at McCoy.

"To give you the symptoms."

"What are you talking about?" She cringes some more.

"You're going to start to loose vision in your left eye."

"Yeah I already have." She blinks her eyes.

"Oh and you're going to get a really bad headache and a flop sweat."

"You call this a favor?" McCoy grabs onto her and pulls her up.

"Yeah, you owe me one." She walks with him to a shuttle.

"Kirk, Aria T. She's not cleared for duty aboard the U.S.S Enterprise."

"Medical code states the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of her attending physician, which is me." He points to himself.

"So I'm taking Ms. Kirk aboard. Or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the enterprise, warped into a crisis without one of its senior medical officers?"

She looks at the officer, her eye beginning to bother her.

"As you were."

"As you were, come on." His voice sounds irritated and he pulls Aria onto the shuttle. They get on and buckle up. Once the ship began moving, Aria held tightly onto the arm rest, her stomach not feeling so well, "I might throw up on you…" she says trying not to speak too much in fear that she'll throw up anyways.

"Ari, you've gotta look at this." She didn't want to turn her head.

"Ari, look." McCoy shakes her arm.

"What?"

"Look." She turns her head to the window and leans into McCoy, she couldn't believe her eyes. There in space docked at the station sits the U.S.S Enterprise and all her glory.

"Whoa…"

The shuttle bay pulls into the docking bay of the Enterprise, McCoy helps Aria up and out of the shuttle, "We need to get you changed."

"I don't feel right, I feel like I'm leaking…" She looks down for a moment at her body for a moment.

"Hell, it's that pointy-eared bastard." They veer off to the left avoiding anyone that would recognize them.

McCoy offers her a change of clothes, as she changes into a dark greyish dress, "Bones!" she groans, as he opens the door, her arm stuck through the neck of the dress and her head stuck near the opening of one of the arms.

"Ari." He sounds annoyed.

"Help, please..." she pleads, "If you don't... I might throw up."

Bones walks over and pulls the dress off her, she blushes looking at him, standing in her bra and underwear, "Please, just help me."

"You owe me big time, Ari."

She smiles and giggles for a moment, "Should I just take my bra off for you and we'll call it even?"

Bones grumbles and pulls the dress over her head, her arms sliding through and her popping through the neck hole, she blushes as she feels him pull the dress down and rests against her thighs.

"Thank you…" She leans in and he covers her lips.

"Not the time, Ari."

"Oh, right." He grabs onto her and takes her out of the room.

"Where are we?" she sounds disoriented.

"Medical Bay."

"This isn't worth it." She groans.

"A little suffering is good for the soul."

"Hmm… I think I love you Bones." She giggles feeling like she's drunk.

"Come here…" Bones says irritated.

"My mouth is itchy, is that normal?"

Bones takes her over to the bed and sits her down on it, "Oh those symptoms won't last long."

She groans and moans in what sounds like pain, "I'm going to give you a mild sedative."

"Oooh, I wish I didn't know you." her voice sounds compressed, making it hard for her to speak.

"Oh don't be such an infant." He takes the shot and presses it against her neck.

She cringes for a moment, "How long is it supposed to—" Aria falls back immediately knocked out cold.


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of an announcement goes throughout the ship and at the end of it Aria shoots up in a panic, huffing and puffing, "Lightning Storm!"

"Ah, Ari you're awake, how do you feel?"

She cringes in pain, and McCoy looks down at her hands in shock.

"Good god, hon." Bones sounds serious.

"What?" She looks down, "Ah!" she lifts her hands up, all puffy and swollen, "What the hell's this!?" she doesn't look too happy.

"A reaction to the vaccine, damn it!" He hurries past her. She gets off the bed and goes to a screen to replay the broadcast. She rewinds to the part talking about a lightning storm. Bones stands there with a device and checking her over.

_"It appeared to be a lightning storm in space."_

"Hey." She grabs onto Bones face with her puffy hands, her face just a few inches from his, "We gotta stop the ship."

Aria runs out of the room with McCoy following behind, "Ari! I'm not kidding! We need to keep your heart rate down." She gets to the elevator and opens up a console, "Computer locate crew member Uhura—"

"You know, I haven't seen a reaction this severe since med school." McCoy tries to hurry and open his little case to get some medication.

"We're flying into a trap!" She runs off again, McCoy following close behind.

"Damn it, Ari, stand still." He hurries over to her and injects her.

"Ow! Stop it!" She glares at him.

She goes through the crowd, moving past people and dodging them till she finds, "Uhura, Uhura…" She grabs onto her shoulder.

"Kirk, what are you doing here?" she stands up from her seat.

"The transmission from the Klingon prison planet, what exactly-"

"Oh my god what's wrong with your hands!"

Aria shakes her hands, "It's…Look, who is responsible for the Klingon attack?"

"What?" Uhura looks confused.

"And was the ship Romulis—"

"Was the ship what?" Uhura looks at her confused.

"Whath's happening to my mouth?" He turns to look at Bones.

"You got numb tongue?"

"Numb tongue!?"

"I can fix that." He goes into his little case.

"Was the ship what?" Uhura has a concerned look on her face.

"Romulan!"

Uhura still looks confused, "What? I…"

"Romulan."

"Romulan?" she says unsure for a moment.

"Yeah." Aria says.

"Yes!"

"Yes!" Aria seems excited that she got it and Bones injects her with another needle right into her neck, "God damn it!" She cringes in pain again.

Aria runs down the hallway along with Bones and Uhura following close behind.

"Ari!" Bones yells.

"What's going on?" Uhura says.

"Ari, come back!"

"Aria!" Uhura yells as they all enter the bridge.

"Captain! Captain Pike, sir…"

"Ari, come back here!"

"We have to stop the ship." She stops in front of Pike.

He stands up from his seat his expression not impressed, "Aria how the hell did you get on board the enterprise."

"Captain this woman is under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine-"

"Bones, please-"

"She's completely delusional, and I take full responsibility-" Aria cuts him off by yelling over his talking.

"Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster it being attacked by Romulans."

"Romulans? Cadet Kirk I think you've had enough attention for one day. McCoy take her back to medical, we'll have words later."

"Aye, captain."

She pushes by Bones as he tries to grab her, "Look sir that same anomaly –"

"Ms. Kirk—" Pikes voice is becoming more angry.

Spock walks over to Pike, "Ms. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel. By Starfleet regulations, that makes her a stowaway..."

Aria starts to talk over Spock, "I get it. You're a great arguer and I'd love to do it again with you too."

"I can remove the cadet —"

"Try it! The cadet is trying to save the bridge." She says loudly and looks at Spock.

"By recommending a full stop in mid-warp during a rescue mission?"

She looks at Pike, "It's not a rescue mission, listen to me, it's an attack."

"Based on what facts?" Spock says displaying no emotion, though his voice is firm as he speaks. Aria and Pike both look at Spock, then she starts to speak again, "That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred the day of my birth before a Romulan ship attacked the U.S.S Kelvin." she looks at Pike, "You know that sir, I read your dissertation."

She looks back at Spock, "That ship which had formidable and advanced weaponry, was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attacked a place on the edge of Klingon space and at 2300 hours last night, there was an attack, Fourty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by Romulans sir, and it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."

Pike looks at her, "And you know of this Klingon attack how?" He doesn't sound too convinced. She turns to look at Uhura, she looks at them before speaking.

"Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Aria's report is accurate."

"We're warping into a trap sir, the Romulans are waiting for us, I promise you that."

Spock looks at Aria and then at Pike, "The cadets logic is sound. And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in Xenolinguistics. We would be wise to accept her conclusion."

"Scan Vulcan space. Check for any transmissions in Romulan." Pike looks over at Mara.

"Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan."

Pike walks over to Uhura, "What about you? Do you speak Romulan, Cadet—"

"Uhura, all three dialects, sir."

"Uhura relieve the lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

"Hannity, hail the U.S.S Truman." Pike walks over to her.

"All the other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seem to have lost all contact."

"Sir, I pick up no Romulan transmission, or transmission of any kind in the area.

Aria looks over at Uhura, "It's because they're being attacked." Pike looks at Aria and then walks back over to the captains seat and sits down.

"Shields up. Red Alert."

"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds. Four…three…two-" Aria stands beside Spock and watches the main window and then turns to look at him for a moment. "One…" the ship comes out of warp speed and into a field of destroyed ships, parts everywhere, a graveyard of death. The ship tips hard to the left causing Aria to lose her footing and almost fall over.

"Emergency evasive!"

"On it, sir."

Aria holds tightly onto the rail Pike, "Damage report." He yells.

"Deflector shields are holding."

"All stations! Engineer Olson, report!"

"Full reverse. Come about starboard 90 degrees. Drop us down underneath them Sulu."

Aria looks seeing all the destroyed ships, her heart beating hard in her chest, and fear hitting her.

"Captain, they're locking torpedoes." Spock speaks quickly and to the point.

"Divert auxiliary power from port nacelles to forward shields." They fly through doing their best to avoid the gunfire.

"Sulu, status report."

"Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful sir. We can't take another hit like that." He turns to look at Pike.

"Get me Starfleet command."

Spock turns to look at Pike, "Captain, the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high-energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter abilities." Aria looks over at Spock.

"All power to forward shields. Prepare to fire all weapons."

Uhura stands up, "Captain, we're being hailed."

A bald man with black markings on his face appears on the window in front of them, "Hello." The man's voice is eerie.

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike, to whom am I speaking?"

"Hi Christopher, I'm Nero."

"You've declared war against the federation. Withdraw, and I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location-"

Nero cuts him off, "I do not speak for the empire. We stand apart. As does your Vulcan crew member, isn't that right Spock?"

Spock walks towards the screen, Aria looks at Spock as he walks towards the front, with a look of confusion on her face, "Pardon me, but I do not believe that you and I are acquainted."

"No we're not, not yet. Spock there is something I would like you to see."

"Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of the armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle, come aboard the Narada for negotiations that is all." Nero ends the call. Everyone in the ship turns to look at Pike, all wondering what would happen should he go, but in the end they knew what would happen. Pike stands up from the captain's chair and walks forward a few steps.

"He'll kill you, you know that." Aria says.

"Your survival is unlikely." Spock says.

"Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy, going over to that ship is a mistake."

"I too agree. You should rethink your strategy."

"I understand that." He looks around the room, "I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat."

"I have training, sir."

Pike looks at Sulu, "Come with me."

"Aria, you too. You're not supposed to be here anyway." She nods her head and follows Pike, Spock and Sulu.

"Chekov, you have the conn."

"Aye-aye, Captain."

Aria follows Pike and them through the hallway. "Without transporters we can't beam off the ship, we can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job. Ms. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, Engineer Olson will space-jump from the shuttle." Aria looks over at Spock, fear coursing through her veins. "You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside, you'll disable it, then you'll beam back to the ship."

Pike turns to look at Spock and Spock looks at Aria, "Mr. Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communications back up, you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here. And if all else fails, fall back." He turns to face them, "And rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system." Pike looks at Aria, "Aria, I'm promoting you to First Officer."

"What?" She seems in shock.

"Captain?" Spock doesn't sound thrilled, "Please I apologize; the complexities of human pranks escape me."

_Sweet I got PROMOTED! _

"It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain, you are." Pike looks at Spock, "Let's go." Aria looks at Spock with a grin on her face and then follows Pike, "Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?"

They stop in an elevator, "Well, I guess you'll have to come and get me." He walks forward a few inches, "Careful with the ship, Spock, she's brand new." The elevator closes as they make their descent. Though Aria is scared, excitement flows through her.

She follows Pike onto a shuttle in a space outfit, "_Shuttle 89, USS Enterprise you are clear forward._ _Interval check shows positive and steady._

She sits down and looks at Olson, "You've got the charges right?"

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to kick some Romulan ass. Right?"

"Yeah." She seems unsure now.

"Hell yeah." Olson seems very excited about this.

The shuttle begins to move, _"Shuttle command, we advise you activate your shields now." _

Aria looks over at Sulu, "So what kind of combat training do you have?"

"Fencing." Aria's mouth drops opens, _That's not COMBAT TRAINING! Oh my god.. I'm going to die, don't you dare think that!_

"Pre-jump."

She begins to get ready, putting on her cap and her helmet.

She sits in her seat, feeling scared and anxious. The shuttle shaking a little as they wait and the doors to the cockpit close sealing them in the back.

_"We're approaching the drop zone." _Aria gets out of her seat and walks forward and grabs onto a bar, _"We have one shot to land on that platform. They may have defenses, so pull your chute as late as possible. Three, two, one." _Aria feels her body hit against the roof of the shuttle as she holds onto the bar tightly, her heart beating hard in her chest, but with a look of determination.

_"Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back, until you turn off that drill." _Pike pauses for a few moments, "_Good luck." _

She watches as the hatch opens and lets go of the bar as she flies forward and straight down the drill. She keeps her breathing steady and calm, the falling scaring the life out of her, but not letting it get the better of her. She stares ahead looking down.

_I can't believe I'm doing this… this is scary… Keep focused, you can do this. You're a Kirk! You can do this._

The fall feels long, but they travel quickly downwards into the Vulcan's atmosphere. Her breathing begins to quicken as they approach their destination,

_"Approaching the platform at 5 ,800 meters."_ Aria could hear Chekov.

"Kirk to Enterprise. Distance to target, 5,000 meters." She looks seeing their destination closing in fast.

_"4,600 meters from the platform." _

"4,500 meters to target." Says Sulu.

"4,000 meters." She says and then speaks again, "3,000 meters." Her voice sounds like there's panic in it.

"3,000 meters." Olson says hurried.

"2,000 meters."

"Pulling chute." Sulu pulls his chute and goes up.

Aria pulls her and goes up as they decent downwards. Olson continues to go down without pulling his chute though.

"2,000 meters!" Olson says, still not pulling his chute. She looks down seeing Olson's decent, "Come on, pull your chute, Olson!"

"No, not yet! Not yet! 1,500 meters!"

"Damn it, Olson. Pull your chute!" She yells.

_Stupid fool… he's too close. _

"Olson, open your chute!" she sounds scared for him.

"1,000 meters!" He finally pulls his chute, but when he lands, he hits the device rolling and rolling till his chute rolls under the beam and he gets pulled into the light. His scream disappearing along with his life.

She stares, now feeling more frightened than ever.

_"Olson is gone, sir!" _Chekov says through the comm.

She lands onto the drills and hits hard as she begins to roll, "No—" she panics trying to grab onto anything that would stop her from going into the beam as well. She grabs as she gets dragged, her chute not coming back into its suit. She manages to grab onto something, her arm beginning to hurt as she holds on, trying to hit the retract button for her chute.

"Damn it!" she cries out and finally hits the button, the chute retracts back into its case and she falls down, and then pushes herself up and removes her helmet and her cap covering her long curly hair, her bangs whip in her face as she looks and she's a hatch open with a Romulan coming out, she gets up and yells running towards him and trying to attack him, he blocks with his weapon and she grabs on trying to fight him. The gun fires, shooting some holes into Sulu's chute, and he begins to lose control of it.

She punches the Romulan and kicks him back, before hitting him in the head again and reaching for her gun. The Romulan hits her knocking her gun out of her hand and off of the drill. She grabs her helmet and tries to hit him with it, the Romulan blocking her attempts. Then a second Romulan appears and she begins to swing at him with her helmet, knocking him down for a moment before going after the other one.

"Sulu! Hold on!" she groans and yells.

"Trying to, Kirk." Panic fills his voice. She begins to fight with the other one, holding onto his arms and wrestling with him, trying to push him off the edge. She punches the Romulan and he cracks her one in the face, she groans as she falls down and hits the ground. The Romulan picks her up and throws her, trying to take another swing at her. Aria dodges trying to avoid his hits, she jumps on his back before he throws her off and she rolls off the device and holds onto the edge, her fingers gripping tightly. He looks down at her before trying to stomp on her fingers; she cringes in pain, but begins to move her hands to avoid his feet with every muscle in her body screaming at her.

_I don't know how much I can keep this up for… Oh god… Why, WHY did I agree to do this…? Stop thinking to yourself! _

She manuvers her hands for so long till her finally stomped on one of her hands, she cries out in pain, but still holds on with her other hand. She watches as a blade stabs through the Romulan's chest, he yells in pain loudly before stumbling and falling off the edge and watches as his dead body falls.


	4. Chapter 4

"Give me your hand!" she looks to see Sulu, "Come on." She groans and lifts up her other hand to grab onto his, he holds tightly and pulls her up from the ledge and back onto the device.

She pants and breathes quickly.

"Olson had the charges." Sulu yells.

"I know." She moves forward.

"What do we do?"

"This." She picks up one of the guns the Romulan had and shoot at the console, Sulu picks one up and shoots at the console as well. It begins to spark and flicker, they shoot for a few minutes and then the roaring sound of the beam could no longer be heard.

They stand there waiting for something to happen, and then a device shoots out and flies past them, Aria and Sulu run to the edge and look down.

She hits a button on her arm, "Kirk to Enterpirse. They just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled. Do you copy Enterprise!" She yells feeling frustrated.

"Yes, Ma'am." Everything goes silent again, "Hello! Enterprise! Can ANYONE hear me!?" She looks over at Sulu.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" she tries calling them again, "Kirk to Enterprise! Beam us out of here!"

"Stand by. Locking on your signal."

Suddenly the drills begins to move upwards, and Aria falls over losing her balance, she looks seeing Sulu fall over the edge, "I can't lock onto you. Don't move. Don't move!"

"Kirk!"

"Sulu!" she yells and runs over to the edge and jumps off it. She free falls down to catch up with Sulu.

"Sulu!" She yells as she reaches him and grabs onto him, "Hold on!" She yells as their bodies begins to twist in the air as they fall. "I got you! Now pull my chute!"

Sulu hits the button and the chute comes out, but breaks after a few moments from too much stress on the bands.

"Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!"

"I'm trying. I can't lock onto your signal."

"Beam us up!" She yells panicked as she can see the ground coming to meet them very shortly.

"You're moving too fast."

"Beam us up!" She screams. "Beam us up!" she says again a little more calmer, but still scared shitless. Silence answers them back, "Enterprise, where are you?"

_"Hold on, hold on, hold on.." _She hears Chekov's voice through the comm.

"Now, now, now! Do it now! Now, now, now, now!" She yells seeing the ground only just meters away from them.

_"Okay, okay, okay! Hold on! Hold on! Compensating gravitational pull and—" _

Aria looks down see the rock they are about to hit in a few seconds, but then they land, she groans still holding onto Sulu and looks seeing they're back on the Enterprise.

"Ow…" she pushes herself up, moaning and groaning.

"Thanks." Sulu says.

She looks over at him, "No problem… Just returning the favor." She stands up slowly and Spock enters the room.

"Clear the pad. I'm beaming to the surface."

Aria turns to face him, "Surface of what?" then she realizes, "What, are you going down there? Are you nuts? Spock you can't do that!"

"Energize."

"Spock!" she yells.

Aria waits in the transporter room, and watches as Chekov works the console as she waits for Spock to return.

Bones hurries looking at Aria and Sulu, "Are you both alright?"

"Nothing I can't handle, Bones." Aria rubs her face for a moment, feeling a bruise. Bones walks over and runs a device over her, "I'm fine."

"And I'm a doctor, let me do my job, Ari." He sounds pissed off and she stands there, looking at the beaming pads, waiting for any sign of Spock.

What seems like an eternity, Spock's voice sounds through the comm, _"Spock to Enterprise. Get us out now."_

"Locking volume. Don't move. Stay right where you are." Aria watches and waits.

"Transport in five, four, three, two—"

_"Mother!"_ they could hear Spock yell.

"I'm losing her! I'm losing her! I'm losing her!" Chekov panics trying his best to lock onto the woman. "No! I lost her. I lost her." His voice is sad and full of disappointment.

Spock and the other Vulcan's beam back onto the Enterprise, Spock's arm is stretched out as if he's reaching for something. Aria watches him as he walks over to the last spot in which his this last person was to be in. She looks down, feeling sorry for him.

Aria, Sulu and the Vulcans all head down to the Medical Bay, she sits on a bed as her hand gets wrapped up, but she sits silently not saying a word and looks over at Spock, who hasn't looked like any of this had affected him. After everyone is fixed, she sits down in the Medical bay for a while, trying to calm herself, from what she has just experienced.

"You going to be alright, Ari?" Bones walks over and looks at her hand, she looks seeing some blood leaking through the bandage.

"I can't believe what I saw today."

"That's not the end of it, it'll get worse. It comes with being a captain and you'll lose people."

"But Spock, it's like nothing even registered that his entire planet is destroyed. That the rest of his race lies on this ship." she looks over at Bones, "I honestly thought I was going to die today."

"Well, you didn't. Be grateful, Ari."

She nods her head and peeks around the room, "So tell me..." she grabs his shirt and pulls him between her legs, "When's the last time you had a little fun?"

"I'm on duty."

"You're always on duty." she rolls her eyes. "I wasn't lying when I said you were growing on me."

Bones smiles for a moment, "Is that so?"

She lifts her head up and looks at him; she moves her lips close to his and stops.

"Damn it, Ari." he cups the back of her neck and pulls her hard against his lips, she moans softly and begins to fiddle with his pants.

"You can stop me if you want, Bones."

"I don't want to. As I've said before, you're still a pain in my ass."

"Aw, can't you just say it a little bit more sentimental?"

Bones cups her face and looks at her, his lips only a few inches away from hers, "You're growing on me too, Ari, so damn much."

She blushes looking into his eyes as he kisses her and she continues to fiddle with his pants.

Aria sits on the bridge in the Captain's chair, thinking and wondering. But she did like the feel of the chair beneath her.

"Have you confirmed that Nero is headed for earth?"

"Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Spock walks down near the captain's chair.

"Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every federation planet's a target." Aria looks as Spock walks up and past her.

"Out of the chair." She frowns as she gets up and walks around the bridge.

Chekov begins to speak, "Well, if the Federation is a target, why didn't they destroy us?"

"Why would they? Why waste a weapon? We obviously weren't a threat."

"That is not it." Spock walks over to the front of the bridge, "He said he wanted me to see something, the destruction of my home planet."

Aria walks over to McCoy and stands near him, he looks at her and walks trying to think, "How the hell did they do that, by the way? I mean, where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?"

The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer." Spock turns to face everyone, "Such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time."

"Damn it, man. I'm a doctor, not a physicist. Are you actually suggesting they're from the future?" McCoy sounds upset.

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"How poetic." McCoy rolls his eyes, looking pissed off as usual.

Aria speaks up, "Then what would an angry future Romulan want with captain Pike?" she looks at Spock.

"As Captain, he does know details of Starfleets defenses." Sulu says and Aria walks down and over near Spock.

"What we need to do is catch up to that ship, disable it, take it over and get Pike back."

"We are technologically outmatched in every way. A recuse attempt would be illogical." Spock turns to face Aria, she smiles out of annoyance and anger.

"Nero's ship would have to drop out of warp for us to overtake them."

Aria nods her head, "Okay, then what about assigning engineering crews to try and boost our warp yield?"

"Remaining powering crew are being used to repair radiation leaks on the lower decks—"

"Okay! All right!

"And damage to subspace communications, without which—"

Aria walks down to Spock, "There's got to be some way—"

"—We cannot contact Starfleet." Spock looks at her, "We must gather with the rest of Starfleet to balance the terms of the next engagement."

Aria looks at him, not believing what he's saying, "There won't be a next engagement. By the time we've gathered it'll be too late. But you say he's from the future, know's whats gonna happen? Then the logical thing is to be unpredictable." She smiles slighty.

Spock approaches her, "You're assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold. The contrary, Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin, culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party."

"An alternate reality." Aria looks at Uhura before looking back at Spock.

"Precisely." He walks past Mara, "Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed." Spock goes to sit down, "Mr. Sulu, plot a course for the Laurentian system, warp factor 3."

A concerned look falls on Aria's face and she walks over to Spock, "Spock, don't do that. Running back to the rest of the fleet for a confab is a massive waste of time." She raises her voice.

"These are the orders issued by Captain Pike when he left the ship."

"He also ordered us to go back and get him." Aria glares at him, "Spock you are captain now. You have to make—"

"I am aware of my responsibilities, Ms. Kirk."

She begins to yell at him, "Every seconds we waste, Nero's getting closer to his next target. " she looks down at him, anger flowing through her.

"That is correct, and why I'm instructing you to accept the fact that I alone am in command."

"I will not allow us to go backwards—" she raises her voice again.

"Ari, he's the Captain." McCoy tries to speak.

"Away from the problem." Her voice fills with anger. "Instead of hunting Nero down!"

Spock stands up and looks at her, "Security, escort her out."

Two men come up and grab onto her, she walks with them a few feet before cracking one of the men in the face "Hey!" and pushing the other one away from her.

"Enough, Ari!"

She continues to fight the men off, till someone touches her shoulder and she blacks out.


	5. Chapter 5

Aria wakes up after a while and looks around the small compartment, "Ah." She cringes in pain and touches her head, she looks over at the console and touches it, "Computer, where am I?" she begins to pull the bandage off her hand and throws it somewhere in the pod.

_Location, Delta Vega. Class-M planet. Unsafe. There is a Starfleet outpost 14 kilometers to the northwest. Remain in your pod—_

She groans, _until retrieved by Starfleet authorities. _"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

She lifts herself up and grabs onto the latch and opens the doors, the cold air rushes in as brushes against her bare legs, "Bad day to wear a dress." She grabs the bag in the pod and some hooks, before pulling herself out of the pod and climbing up the side of the ice wall, to the top. The ice stings against her bare legs as she climbs up, her destination looking impossible but she continues anyways. She reaches the top and pulls herself onto the ground, she throws the bag down and stands up looking at the barren frozen wasteland in front of her. She groans and yells in aggravation, she looks down at the bag and opens it, a coat, some mittens and boots, "Oh." She picks up the pants, "Perfect, I won't get frostbite, thank you, you ungrateful bastards." She slips on the pants and the coat, bundling up as tight as she can before making her way out into the frozen wasteland.

What seems like hours later, the weather begins to turn into a blizzard, making it hard for her to see. She walks forward and pulls out her communicator, "Stardate 2258.42. Or 44. Whatever. Acting captain Spock has marooned me on Delta Vega, in what I believe to be a violation of Security Protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners aboard a star—"

She stops walking as she hears a howl in the distant. She looks seeing a shadowy figure in the distance, she stares at it for a moment before seeing the creature approaching quickly, it's paw thumping loudly against the ice, she stares as it roars loudly, "Oh!" her expression changes to shock and she turns to run as fast as her legs would take her. She occasionally looks back at it to see how close it's getting, tripping and falling as it would catch up to her.

"Ah! Damn it! This isn't my day!" She yells out for no one to hear.

She trips as something pops out of the ice, something much bigger. It grabs onto the creature and throws it against an iceberg. She screams and pushes herself back quickly, _that's much bigger than the other creature...Oh god…_the huge creature looks at her and then it roars, its mouth huge and filled with sharp razor teeth.

She gets up quickly and runs through the frozen wasteland, her heart beats hard in her chest as she runs. Aria continues to run but then trips and rolls down a huge hill, she yells in pain as her body hits off some of the ice, she rolls down and when she reaches the bottom, she groans and sees the creature not too far behind, she gets up and runs, her legs beginning to ache from the cold, she books it to what looks like a cave, she smiles out of relief for a moment, thinking it wouldn't be able to follow her.

Running into the cave, Aria dodges the creature around a corner and eventually she makes it to a smaller part of the cave. But then the creature whips out it's tongue and grabs onto her leg, pulling her down and towards its mouth.

_I can't die, not today, I'm not dying today!_

When she thinks all is lost, a man appears waving a torch around she looks at him as the creature begins to back off, its tongue unraveling from her leg and she watches as it slinks away. She looks at the man standing in front of her.

He turns around and walks towards them, a Vulcan, a very old looking Vulcan, "Aria T. Kirk." She looks at him, confused.

"Excuse me?" she says.

"How did you find me?"

She stands up looking at the Vulcan "Whoa, whoa." She mumbles, "How do you know my name?" she says breathlessly.

He sighs for a moment and says, "I have been and always shall be your friend."

"What?" Aria smiles and laughs for a moment, "Ah, look, I don't know you."

"I am Spock."

She looks at him, a look of disbelief crosses her expression, her eyes looks at him up and down, silence linger between, "Bullshit." Is all she could say.

She walks with Spock through the caverns, "It is remarkably pleasing to see you again, old friend. Especially after the events of today."

"Uh," She stands up from the fire, "Sir, I—I appreciate what you did for me today, but if—if you were Spock, you'd know we're not friends. At all. You hate me. You marooned me here for mutiny. "

"Mutiny?"

"Yes."

"You are not the captain?"

She looks at Spock. "No, no, you're the captain. Pike was taken hostage." She walks around the fire.

"By Nero."

She turns around looking at him, realization dawning on her face, "What do you know about him?"

"He is a particularly troubled Romulan." Spock stands up and walks over to her, "Please, allow me. It will be easier."

"Whoa whoa," She arches back from his hand, "What are you doing?"

Spock reaches his hand out, "Our minds, on and together." He touches her face, "One hundred twenty-nine years from now, a star will explode and threaten to destroy the galaxy." She gasps as she goes into Spock's mind.

_"That is where I'm from, Ari, the future. A star went supernova, consuming everything in its path. I promised the Romulans that I would save their planet. We outfitted our fastest ship. Using red matter, I would create a black hole which would absorb the exploding star. I was en route, when the unthinkable happened. The supernova destroyed Romulus. I had little time. I had to extract the red matter and shoot it into the supernova. As I began my return trip, I was intercepted. He called himself Nero, last of the Romulan Empire. In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole. Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive. Nero and his crew spent the next 25 years awaiting my arrival. But what was years for Nero was only seconds for me. I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me. He held me responsible for the loss of his world. He captured my vessel and spared my life, for one reason. So that I would know his pain. He beamed me here so that I could observe his vengeance. As he was helpless to save his planet, I would be helpless to save mine. Billions of lives lost because of me, Ari. Because I failed."_

She pulls away from his hand and sounds like she`s gasping for air.

"Forgive me. Emotional transference is an effect of the mind-meld."

She walks away from him, sounding like she's about to cry, her eyes filled with tears, "So you do feel."

"Yes. "

"Going back in time, you changed all our lives." She turns her head to look at him.

"Ari, we must go." Spock walks over to her, "There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here." Spock walks by her to head out of the cave, she lingers for a moment before asking.

"Wait." Spock stops and turns to face her, "Where you came from, did I know my father?"

"Yes. You often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining the Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become the Captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?" she sounds surprised.

"A ship we must return you too as soon as possible." Spock walks ahead leaving her alone for a minute. She stands there for a moment, "I'll do you proud father." She whispers to herself and goes to follow Spock out of the cave and into the frozen wasteland again.

Aria follows Spock through the blizzard. They walk for what seems forever, but then they reach a place and they stand on the hill looking at it, "So, that's the Starfleet post, doesn't look busy."

"Come, Ari."

She follows him down the hill to the building. When they reach it, Spock opens a door into a long corridor, she follows him and goes inside the somewhat warmth of the building, she turns around and closes the door.

"Hello!" she yells and the sound of a wrench dropping on the ground echoes through the corridor, then a little shadow appears at the end of the corridor and hurries towards them quickly. The alien looks at them for a moment and then they follow it down the corridor and into a huge industrial like room.

They walk till they reach a man lounged back in his chair, asleep. The alien walks up to him and smacks him on the leg, "What?" a Scottish accent sounds through the cloth on his face, he sits up and looks at them, "You realize how unacceptable this is?" he sounds annoyed and angry.

"Fascinating."

"What?" Aria looks at Spock.

"Okay, I'm sure you're just doing your job, but could you not come a wee bit sooner? Six months I've been here, living off Starfleet protein nibs and the promise of a good meal! And I know exactly what's going on here, okay? Punishment, isn't it? Ongoing. For something that was clearly and accident." Aria looks at the guy and then back at Spock for a moment.

"You are Montgomery Scott."

She looks at Spock, "You know him?"

"Aye, that's me. You're in the right place. Unless there's another hardworking, equally starved Starfleet officer around."

"Me." The little alien says, Scotty turns and looks at him, "Get aff! Shut up! You don't eat anything! You can eat, like, a bean, and you're done. I'm talking about food. Real food. But you're here now, so thank you. Where is it?" Scott gets up from his chair and walks a few feet, he turns and looks at them.

"You are in fact, the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of trans-warp beaming."

Scotty walks back over to his chair and sits down, "That's what I'm talking about. How do you think I wound up here? I had a little debate with my instructor on the issue of relativistic physics and how it pertains to subspace travel. He seemed to think that the range of transporting something like a grapefruit was limited to about 100 miles." she looks over at Spock, with a look of confusion, "I told him that I could not only beam a grapefruit from one planet to the adjacent planet in the same system, which is easy, by the way, I could do it with a life-form. So, I tested it on Admiral Archer's prize beagle."

Aria shakes her head, "What, I know that dog. What happened to it?" She smiles for a moment and looks at Scotty.

"I'll tell you when it reappears." He takes a sip of his drink, coughing awkwardly, "I don't know. I do feel guilty about that."

"What if I told you that your trans-warp theory was correct, that it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is traveling at warp speed?"

Scotty looks at Spock, "I think if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard about it."

"The reason you haven't heard of it Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet."

Scotty looks at two of them, his eyes bouncing between the two, he shakes his head and stands up, "Im sorry—what—Are you from the future?"

She nods his head, "Yeah, he is. I'm not."

"Well that's brilliant. Do they still have sandwiches there?" he looks at Spock.

Scotty takes them over to a shuttle, which looks like it's been in repair for a while, "Well, she's a wee bit dodgy. Shield emitters are totally banjaxed, as well as a few other things. On youse go." Aria walks ahead of Scotty into the shuttle, "So the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage, has it? She is one well-endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance."

Aria laughs and rolls her eyes as she heads onto the shuttle with Spock already inside and working with the controls. Scotty walks over and sits down near him, "Except, the thing is, even if I believed you, right, where you're from, what I've done, which I don't, by the way. You're still talking about beaming aboard the Enterprise while she's traveling faster than light without a proper receiving pad." Scotty gets up and walks towards Aria, he sees his little friend sitting on something, "Get off there! It's not a climbing frame." The little guy jumps off, looking upset, "The notion of trans-warp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a small bullet whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse." He walks back over to Spock and looks over his shoulder, "What's that?"

"You equation for achieving trans-warp beaming." Spock stands up and walks over to the receiving pads.

"Get out of it." He sits down and looks at the screen, "Imagine that! It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving."

Aria walks over and behind Spock, "You're coming with us, right?"

Spock turns around slowly and faces her, "No, Ari. That is not my destiny."

"Your—dest—" she stops herself and continues, "He—the other Spock is not gonna believe me. Only you can explain what the hell's happened."

"Under no circumstances can he be made aware of my existence. You must promise me this." She could feel that her brain was going to explode, "You're telling me I can't tell you that I'm following your own orders? Why not? What happens? Will the world explode?"

Spock smiles for a moment, before having his stern look back, "Ari, this is one rule you cannot break. To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How? Over your dead body?" her expression is still in shock.

"Preferably not. However, there is Starfleet Regulation 619. 619 states that any command officer who's emotionally compromised by the mission at hand must resign said command."

She bites her bottom lip for a moment and nods her head slowly, "So, you're saying that I have to emotionally compromise you-guys."

"Ari, I just lost my planet. I can tell you, I am emotionally compromised. What you must do is get me to show it." She looks at him for a moment, feeling very sad for him.

"Aye, then, lass. Live or die. Let's get this over with."

She looks at Spock for a moment and walks over to the transporter pad and stands on one, she turns to look at Spock, "You know." He looks at her, "Coming back in time, changing history, that's cheating."

"A trick I learned from an old friend." Spock hits the engage button as he does his sign with his hands, "Live long and prosper."


	6. Chapter 6

Aria opens her eyes and see's she's beamed aboard the ship in the engine room, she looks around for a moment, smiling and happy that she's still in one piece, "Mr. Scott!" she yells and then hears a tapping noise. An awful realization dawns on her face, she turns around to face the tank pressing her ear against it and yells "Mr. Scott, can you hear me?"

She looks and sees him get pulled into the tube, he taps on the glass, "Hold on a second!" says panicking, his body gets pulled away down the tube, "Oh no," she follows the tubes, as fast as she can, she looks in the tubes, "Don't worry, I—" she continues to run and throws off her coat, as it is weighing her down. She follows till she sees him going up a tube, "No! No!" she yells and watches seeing that his destination is the big tank with a rotating blade, she looks seeing a hatch and runs up to the console hitting a few buttons to release the valve, _Turbine release valve activated._

She looks and waits, the door opens and the water pours out along with Scotty, he groans as he hits the ground. She hurries over to him, and shakes him, "You all right? You all right?"

She helps him sit up as he coughs out some water, "My head's buzzing and I'm soaked, but otherwise I'm fine."

She helps him up, "Quick, I'm sure they know we're here by now." They begin to run through the Engineering deck, up and down stairs, till she hears someone, "Halt!"

"No, no!" She yells, but then one of the crew walks up to her with a gun, she stands there looking at him realizing who it is.

"Come with me, Cupcake." His voice sounds angry, she rolls her eyes but follows him up to the bridge.

He pushes them through the door as Spock walks up to them.

"Who are you?" Spock looks at Scotty.

"I'm with her." Her looks at Aria then back at Spock.

"He's with me." She looks at Spock.

"We are traveling at warp speed. How did you manage to beam aboard this ship?"

"Well, you're the genius you figure it out." Her voice is snarky.

"As acting captain of this vessel, I order you to answer the question." Spock looks at Aria

"Well, I'm not telling, Acting Captain." She looks at him, her face unphased by him." But Spock doesn't look too pleased, "What—did—Now, that doesn't frustrate you, does it? My lack of cooperation? That doesn't make you angry."

Spock looks at Scotty, "Are you a member of Starfleet?"

"I—Yes, can I get a towel, please?"

"Under penalty of court martial, I order you to explain to me how you were able to beam aboard this ship while moving at warp."

"Well—" Scotty goes to speak.

"Don't answer him." She looks at Scotty.

"You will answer me." Spock's voice is stern.

Scotty seems skeptical, "I'd rather not take sides."

Aria steps in front of Spock, "What is it with you, Spock, hm? Your planet was just destroyed, your mother murdered and you're not even upset."

"If you are presuming that these experiences in any way impede my ability to command this ship, you are mistaken."

"And yet, you are the one who said fear was necessary for command. I mean, did you see his ship? Did you see what he did?"

"Yes of course I did."

"So are you afraid or aren't you?" She is really close to Spock's face now.

"I will not allow you to lecture me about the merits of emotion."

"Then why don't you stop me?"

"Step away from me, Ms. Kirk."

"What is it like not to feel Anger? Or Heartbreak? Or the need to stop at nothing to avenge the death of the woman who gave birth to you?"

"Back away from me." She could see that her words were starting to affect him.

"You feel nothing!" she yells, "It must not even compute for you. You never loved her." Spock yells and cracks her in the face. She stumbles backwards into the two men that brought her there, Spock pulls her away and begins to hit her again, she tries to get in a few hits, but Spock blocks each and every time. She groans being hit in the stomach, his hand coming down and hitting her in the back, his foot hitting her stomaching causing her to fall back and onto the engine controls. She grabs her throat and goes to get up when Spock grabs onto her throat and starts to choke her, her hands reach and grab around his wrist, trying to pull his hand off, her oxygen slowly leaving her. After what seems like an eternity, his father's voice sounds through the bridge, "Spock!" He looks at her, before pulling away, Aria breathes quickly as and coughs hard, finally being able to breathe.

Spock pulls away and looks down at Aria, realizing what he's done, she sits up and watches him walk over to McCoy, "Doctor, I am no longer fit for duty. I hereby relinquish my command based on the fact that I have been emotionally compromised. Please note the time and date in the ship's log." She sits there leaning against the controls, _Wow, I actually managed to piss him off… Wow, okay so I do feel a little bad. _Spock walks away and off the bridge, silence takes the room for a few moments before Scotty breaks the tension.

"I like this ship! You know, it's exciting!" Scotty smiles for a moment and McCoy walks over to Aria and bends down at her ear, "Well congratulations, Ari. Now we've got no captain and no goddamn first officer to replace him."

"Yeah, we do." She smirks and walks over to the captain's chair and sits down in it.

_This feels GOOD! Oooooh, yes. _She runs her hands along the arms of the chair, feeling the controls underneath her fingers.

"What?" McCoy looks as she sits down in the seat.

"Pike, made her first officer." Sulu looks at McCoy.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Thanks for the support." She looks at the buttons on the chair, Uhura goes to walk over to her and stops, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Captain."

She stares off to the side for a moment, she wouldn't admit outloud, but she was scared, "So do I." she looks at Uhura.

Aria presses a button on the chair, "Attention, crew of the Enterprise. This is Aria Kirk. Mr. Spock has resigned commission and advanced me to acting captain. I know you were all expecting to regroup with the fleet, but I'm ordering a pursuit course of the enemy ship to Earth. I want all departments at battle stations and ready in 10 minutes. Either we're going down or they are. Kirk out." She hits the button ending the call throughout the ship. McCoy walks over to her; "I wish to speak with you, Captain." The last word a definite tone, she stands up and walks with him outside of the bridge, "Is there something on your mind?"

He walks close to her, trapping her between him and the wall, "You did that on purpose, you deliberately did that in order to be captain."

She sighs, "Look, Bones. Yes, I did. But you need to trust me. You do trust me don't you?"

"Sometimes."

She gasps playfully, "We might not make it out alive."

"I know, Ari." He looks at her, pissed off.

"I want you to kiss me. It could be the last time we do this, I'd like it if you could remember me and my lips." She places her hands on his chest and presses against him lightly. He looks around making sure the coast is clear and he presses his lips against hers. They stand there for a few moments in a kiss, before the door opens causing Bones to pull away from her. A crew member walks by and Aria smiles for a moment, before laughing.

"Dear god, what is so funny."

She smiles and looks at McCoy, "I'm scared. I'm so scared Bones. We could die."

"And that's funny?"

"Well," She walks over to him and pats his cheek, "I guess it's now or never—"

The door opens, "Captain, you're wanted on the bridge."

"Thank you, Sulu." She walks back onto the bridge with McCoy following behind her, they stand around trying to figure out a plan, "Whatever the case, we need to get aboard Nero's ship undetected."

"We can't just go in there guns blazing, Ari, not with their technology." McCoy looks at her.

"Hey, I thought you were a doctor, not a scientist."

"Don't be a smart ass, Aria."

"I'm telling you, the math doesn't support what you're suggesting." Sulu says.

"Captain Kirk, Captain Kirk!"

Aria feels someone poking her shoulder, she turns and sees Chekov, "Yes, Mr. Chekov. What is it?"

She faces Chekov, "Based on the Narada's course from Vulcan, I projected that Nero will travel past Saturn." She looks at the others and then back at Chekov, "Like you said, we need to stay invisible to Nero or he'll destroy us. If Mr. Scott can get us to warp factor 4, and if we drop out of warp behind one of Saturn's moons, say, Titan—"

"Hm," she nods her head.

"The magnetic distortion from the planet's rings will make us invisible to Nero's sensors. From there, as long as the drill is not actuated, we can beam aboard the enemy ship."

"Aye, that might work." Aria turns to look at Scotty.

A look crosses McCoy's face, and he shakes his head, "Wait a minute, kid. How old are you?"

"Seventeen, sir." Chekov smiles.

McCoy looks over at Aria, "Oh, good, he's 17." She smiles at Bones.

"Doctor." A voice causes everyone to look as Spock enters onto the bridge. "Mr. Chekov is correct. I can confirm his telemetry. If Mr. Sulu is able to maneuver us into position, I can beam aboard Nero's ship, steal back the black hole device and, if possible, bring back captain Pike." He reaches the group of them, "I won't allow you to do that, Mr. Spock." Aria looks at him.

Spock smirks at her, "Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestry. Our cultural similarities will make it easier for me to access the ship's computer to locate the device. Also my mother was human, which makes earth the only home I have left." Aria feels a ping of guilt and sadness for him. She stands there for a moment and then walks up to Spock, "Then I'm coming with you."

"I would cite Regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it."

She smiles and laughs, "See? We are getting to know each other." She smacks his shoulder hard and walks by him to head down towards the Transporter room.

McCoy walks with her through the halls, "I'm glad you're following me, Bones. Gives me a chance to finish what I was saying earlier to you." she walks with him through the halls, avoiding bumping into people.

"And what did you want to say, Ari?"

She smiles and shakes her head, "Are you going to constantly look pissed off?"

"It's the way I look. I'm sorry if it bothers you." He sounds annoyed. She smiles and takes her dear sweet time walking to the transporter room.

"That's alright, I love you, so I can tolerate your face." She continues forward and he stops.

"Fine way to tell someone you love them, Ari." She turns to face him.

"I do." She smiles and walks up to him, "Whether you believe me or not, is a different story."

He looks down at her, "Oh I believe you."

"Oh, well that's good."

"Yes, never met a bigger pain in my ass, in my life."

She rolls her eyes, "Such a romantic." She turns to continue to the transporter room when he grabs onto her arm to stop her.

"Look, I'm not one for saying it. I was married once and she divorced me and took the whole planet."

"Again, the romance is just, oozing from you. I'm not your ex-wife. I'm Aria Kirk!" She smiles with a pose.

"I know, Ari."

"I'm much better than your ex."

He looks at her, "Now there can be some debate about that."

"Okay. I get it. You don't love me."

"Now hold on a minute, I didn't say that…" she could tell she was irritating him.

"You obviously don't."

"If I didn't love you, you think I'd still put up with your crap."

"Nope, you don't."

He grabs her and pulls her tight against him, "Damn it, Aria, I love you. Now shut up would you?"

She grins looking at him, "Yes, of course." He kisses her deeply, holding her tight against him and breaks the kiss after a while, she giggles moving away from him.

"Oh, and I know you love me." His lips presses into a thin line, "You told me a while back when we were still on earth; your memory isn't that good. You better get that checked out, Bones."

"Still a pain in my ass." He mumbles pissed off.

"Love you too." She yells heading down to the transporter room Spock and Uhura catching up to her, they walk through the doors, "How are we, Scotty?" she walks to the console.

"Unbelievably, sir, the ship is in position."

She presses a button, making a direct call to Sulu, "Whatever happens, Mr. Sulu, if you think you have the tactical advantage you fire on that ship, even if we're still onboard. That's an order."

_"Yes, Ma'am." _

"Otherwise we'll contact the Enterprise when we're ready to be beamed back."

_"Good luck." _

She ends the call and walks over to the beaming pads. She walks up and stands, she looks over at Spock, seeing Uhura kiss him tenderly.

"I will be back."

"You better be. I'll be monitoring your frequency."

"Thank you, Nyota."

_That's her name! Finally I know it now! _Uhura kisses him one more time before pulling away and glaring at Aria. She nods her head as Uhura turns and leaves the room. Scotty looks at Aria and then at Spock. Silence lingers between them before she says, "So her first name's Nyota?"

Spock looks over at her, "I have no comment on the matter."

Aria zips her lip, not saying another word.

"Okey-dokey, then, if there's any common sense in the design of the enemy ship, I should be putting you somewhere in the cargo bay. Shouldn't be a soul in sight." Scotty says nodding his head at them.

"Energize." Aria says as light swirls around their bodies before disappearing. Spock and her beam onto the ship on a platform. She looks around for a moment before the sound of Romulans begin to yell and shoot at them. Aria pulls out her gun and runs trying to find cover, she shoots at a few Romulans, "So much for there not being ANYONE in sight! Damn it, Scotty." They run through the cargo bay, avoiding gunfire, shooting when they can. They finally find some cover and hide behind it, before kneeling and shooting at the Romulans. She moves ahead killing off a few more of them. Spock comes up behind her, "I'll cover you."

"Are you certain?" Spock seems unsure.

"Yeah, I got you." Spock moves ahead of her, she follows shortly after. She shoots down another Romulan and finds Spock on the ground, doing a mind meld. She holds her gun out looking around the area.

"Do you know where it is? The Black hole device."

"And captain Pike." She looks at him and Spock gets up to quickly move ahead. She follows him through the ship, moving as quick as she can. They stop and see a ship in the cargo bay and look at it for a few moments before heading to it.

They walk in, "I foresee a complication. The design of their ship is far more advanced than I had anticipated." They enter a room with a huge ball of red matter contained in glass.

_"Voice print and face recognition analysis enabled. Welcome back, Ambassador Spock." _

Aria knew the reason as to why it recognized him, but decides to play dumb, "Wow, that's weird." She walks by him into the other room.

She begins to look at the ship, looking at the controls, the door swooshes open and Spock walks in, "It appears that you have been keeping important information from me." She turns to face him, _Crap… Nope I can't say anything._

"You're going to be able to fly this thing, right?"

"Something tells me I already have."

"Good luck." She goes to walk away.

"Ari." She turns to face him, "The statistical likelihood that our plan will succeed is less than 4.3%."

"It'll work." Her voice filled with confidence.

"In the event that I do not return, please tell Lieutenant Uhura—"

"Spock! It'll work." She smiles at him and turns to leave the room, and hurries to run out of the ship.


	7. Chapter 7

She gets back into the cargo bay and watches as the ship hovers, slowly and then flies away leaving her alone in the darkness of the Narada. She pulls out her gun and heads through a dark tunnel, walking slowly and quietly till she reaches a room with lots of light, a noise sounds through the room as she looks around, her heart beating hard in her chest. She looks seeing Nero standing on a platform, "Nero, order your men to disable the drill or I will—"

A Romulan cracks her in the head with a gun, "Ow!" she yells as she falls to the ground and slides a little. She lays there for a moment, the sounds of footsteps heading towards her quickly, Nero looks down at her, "I know your face, from earth's history." He picks her up and throws her a few feet away from him, she groans and cringes in pain. Nero walks over to her and picks her up again by the scruff of the neck and stands her up before punching her in the stomach a few times, she cries out and falls to the ground.

_That's it!_

She yells pushing herself up and as Nero picks her up again she turns and punches him in the face causing him to go backwards for a moment, before he punches her in the face and she falls onto the ground and off one platform and onto another. She groans in pain her head pounding and aching.

Nero walks over and bends down and begins to choke her, "Aria T. Kirk was considered to be a great woman. She went on to captain the U.S.S Enterprise. But that was another life." She grabs onto his wrists with both her hands, trying to get him to stop, "A life I will deprive you of, just like I did your father." He continues to choke her till something breaks his concentration.

"_Captain Nero. The Vulcan ship has been taken. The drill has been destroyed." _Nero looks angry but stops choking her and stands up, "Spock!" He yells in anger and then he yells again, "Spock!" Aria gets her breathing back and lays there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She gets up and leans her head against the platform, she looks up seeing a Romulan standing in front of her. Aria pushes herself up and looks at the romulan before running and jumping off the platform down to the one much father below. She falls and lands on the edge, and groans in pain as she tries to pull herself up onto it, a romulan jumps down and grabs her by the throat and lifts her up, "Your species is even weaker than I expected."

"I can't—" She tries to speak.

"You can't what? You can't even speak." She looks at him, glaring at him. "What?" his face is inches from hers.

"I got your gun." She manages to choke out before grabbing it and shooting him in the stomach, he drops her onto the ledge and she groans again in pain but manages to pull herself up onto the platform as his body descents down into the abyss. She breathes heavily and then pushes herself up, grabbing the gun and leaving to find Pike. She walks through the ship shooting down whoever she comes across and soon finds a platform with Pike strapped to it. She hurries over to him, "What are you doing here?" he says, tired and weak.

"Just following orders." She smiles and begins to unstrap him, and then she feels him move and grabs her gun, she looks seeing him shoot a romulan, "Oh!" she looks seeing him fall down dead and then back at Pike as she continues to unstrap him. She grabs onto him and pulls him up, "Enterprise now!" she yells. The lights wrap around her and Pike as they disappear and onto the Enterprise. She smiles and laughs for a moment seeing that they're back on the ship, her grip on Pike still tight. She smiles and looks relieved seeing Spock standing on the receiving pad.

"Nice timing Scotty!" she smiles and brings Captain Pike down, Scotty begins to laugh, "I've never beamed three people from two targets onto one pad before!"

The door swooshes open, with Bones, Uhura and a few other crew members, "Ari!"

"Bones!" she says in a little pain. He runs over and helps Pike, "I got him." Aria lets go of Pike as they take him to the medical bay and she heads back to the bridge.

"Captain, the enemy ship is losing power! Their shields are down, sir." She walks down onto the bridge to the front window. "Hail them now."

"Aye."

Nero appears on the screen, "This is Captain Aria T. Kirk of the U.S.S Enterprise. Your ship is compromised. Too close to the singularity to survive without assistance, which we are willing to provide."

Spock has a look on his face then turns away from the screen to lean in and whisper to her, "Captain, what are you doing?"

She turns away from the screen as well, "Showing them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with the Romulus. It's logic, Spock. I thought you'd like that."

He nods his head for a moment, "No, not really. Not this time." She smiles at him and then Nero begins to speak.

_"I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times." _She turns to face the screen, _"I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you." _

She smiles, "You got it." She goes and walks over to the captain's chair, "Arm phasers. Fire everything we've got." She sits down.

"Yes, Ma'am." She watches through the window, as phasers hit the Narada, breaking and disappearing into black hole.

"Sulu, lets go home!" she yells.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Though something is wrong, "Why aren't we at warp?"

"We are, ma'am."

"Kirk to engineering. Get us out of here, Scotty."

Scotty sounds hurried and scared, "_You bet your ass, Captain!" _She sits in her chair, fear clinging at her heart, _"Captain, we're caught in the gravity well! It's got us!"_

"Go to maximum warp! Push it!"

_"I'm giving her all she's got, Captain!" _Scotty yells back. The loud sound of a crack goes through the ship, and then she looks up seeing the damage. "All she's got isn't good enough! What else you got?"

_"Okay, if we eject the core and detonate, the blast could be enough to push us away. I cannae promise anything, though!" _

She looks seeing the window begin to crack, "Do it, do it, do it!" she yells panicked and waits for something to happen. Then she hears an explosion, and waits as a bright light floods the window before the cracking stops and the way is clear once again. She breathes heavily for a moment, and then turns in her chair to look at Spock, she smiles and turns to face the window again and laughs as they head back towards earth.

They reach earth and back to the space station. After docking Aria doesn't spend much time on the station and heads towards a shuttle going back to Sans Francisco. She smiles in relief that she's heading back to earth even if for a short while. When she returns to earth she heads to the medical ward in the Academy knowing Bones would be there, she sits on a bed and Bones comes up to her holding a PADD and a device, she looks at him as he presses a device to her cheek, "I must say, Ari. You did well."

She smiles, "Thank you, Bones. I appreciate hearing that." he checks her, making sure everything is alright and in working order.

"How are the headaches?"

"Still there, nothing I can't handle though. Took a few punches to the head."

"For a woman, you're pretty tough." she smiles to herself and looks up at his eyes and then touches his hand, "You know, I was scared there for a bit." he stops running the device along her temple, "I honestly thought we were going to die, Bones. And for a second I almost didn't know what to do."

He places the device down beside her, "You made it out, and you brought everyone back with you, Ari. Your father would be proud of you. You proved yourself."

She looks away from him, "I almost got everyone killed."

"But you didn't and that's what matters."

She looks up at him and smiles, "I better get going Bones." she gets off the bed and walks by him.

"Ari." she stops and turns to face him, "I love you."

"I love you too." she smiles and heads out of the medical ward.

She heads to the auditorium and walks down to the front to stand as the council assembles in their chairs, the head of the council walks down and stands in front of her, "This assembly calls Captain Aria Tiberius Kirk. Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication to your comrades is in keeping with the highest traditions of service, and reflect utmost credit to yourself, your crew and the Federation. It is my honor to award you with this commendation." She smiles trying to keep a straight face as a woman opens up a box with a metal inside it; the council picks it up and places it on her uniform, "By Starfleet Order 28455, you are hereby directed to report to Admiral Pike, U.S.S Enterprise, for duty as his relief." She smiles and shakes his hand before walking over to Pike, who is in a wheelchair and stops in front of him, "I relieve you, sir."

He looks up at her with a smirk on his face, "I am relieved."

She looks down at him, "Thank you, sir."

"Congratulations, Captain." He reaches out his hand and she grabs onto his to shake it, "Your father would be proud."

The students begin to clap and cheer, she turns and looks at the lot of them, clapping and cheering all for her. She smiles at Bones standing and clapping for her, though he still doesn't look impressed.

They once again travel to the space station after a short stay on earth, her second time being Captain of the U.S.S Enterprise, but this time, it was hers alone to command.

"Maneuvering thrusters and impulse engines at your command, ma'am." Sulu looks over at her.

"Weapons systems and shields on standby." Chekov turns to look at Aria.

"Dock control reports ready, Captain." Uhura says as Aria steps onto the bridge in a yellow dress with her captains badge pinned on the left side. She smiles and looks over at Bones, she walks over to him, "Bones!" she slaps his shoulder and gives him a peck on the cheek, "Buckle up!" she walks over to the captain's chair and sits down.

"Scotty, how we doing?"

"_Dilithium chambers at maximum, Captain." _There's a few moments of silence before she hears Scotty yell, _"Get down!"_ She gives a weird look for a moment before smiling and ending the call.

"Mr. Sulu, prepare to engage thrusters." She sits there as Sulu works the controls, the elevator door opens and she turns seeing Spock, "Permission to come aboard, Captain."

"Permission granted." She smirks at him.

Spock walks down and towards her, "As you have yet to select a first officer." She stands up from her chair as he walks towards her, and stops in front of her, "Respectfully I would like to submit my candidacy. Should you desire, I can provide character references."

She smiles looking at him, "It would be my honor, Commander." Spock walks by her, and she looks at Sulu, "Maneuvering thrusters, Mr. Sulu." She goes and sits back in the Captain's chair.

"Thrusters on standby."

"Take us out."

"Aye-aye, Captain." Sulu says as he begins to work the controls. She smiles and sits as the ship begins to move forward.

_Space, the final frontier. There are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before._


End file.
